Important!! Please Read!!

This one is important people. I love to send you all the latest and greatest in all things tech – but this one IS IMPORTANT.

This is about Ransomware. Don’t roll your eyes, I’m serious – there is a big one out there called CryptoLocker and it is a Trojan horse. You know the story of the Trojan horse right? It looked like a big giant horse-statue-present, but really it’s filled with tons of soldiers who are going to jump out and slaughter you? Yeah, think that, but with computers.

CryptoLocker likes to pretend it’s a little innocent email from a totally legitimate company. And look, it has this helpful little attachment, like a pdf or a zip. Now, if you aren’t on my tech tips, you might be willing to open this little horse present – but wham – now you have launched the executable! The .exe has been hidden in the harmless file and is now ravaging your computer files and the network drives mounted on it! WORSE – it ENCRYPTS YOUR FILES!! It even starts this mean little clock, counting down how long you have to pay some random internet site until it encrypts your files forever. Your Microsoft Office files and OpenDocument files will be hit the worst!

And what do the antivirus gurus say about it? "In some cases, it may be possible to recover previous versions of the encrypted files using System Restore or other recovery software used to obtain 'shadow copies' of files," according to an advisory by anti-virus firm Malwarebytes. So basically, once the files are corrupted, they are gone – and if you don’t have a good back up to restore those files, they are gone forever.

So again – you are your best antivirus!! Do not open email attachments from people you don’t know. Not even if they look like the most legitimate company in the world – you don’t know them and you don’t know what they are sending you. ALSO, don’t treat backing up your computer like a chore that you would rather skip. Backups are your friend; they are worth the effort! Please, for your own sake, understand that this rascal does not have an undo button. It will imprison your files and demand money for their release – so BE SMART while you are out there.

Wikipedia has a great write up of this particular gremlin. Please read more if you are interested, but above all be your own antivirus and make good decisions about what you are opening.

Tuesday Tech Tip, October 29, 2013

Tuesday, 29 October 2013 08:22

12 Project Management and Collaboration Tools

I know I have sent you some project management tools already, but these are super cool from the practicale commerce website. If you are looking to implement or update your project management tools, then you need to check these out!

Producteev

Producteev is a social task management solution for teams. Create as many projects as you like, across any number of teams and participants. Coordinate and complete tasks with your teams. Assign tasks to teammates. Add due dates, labels and notes. Follow tasks, track progress and measure the results. Keep all team members in the know and up-to-the-minute with activity streams. Ensure that everyone’s in sync and on task. Mobile apps are available. Price: Free.

Podio

Podio is an online work platform for users to create workspaces and collaborate. You decide how to structure your projects, teams and workflows by creating your own workspaces and sharing them with relevant people. You also decide how to structure, create and present content by choosing from hundreds of Podio’s specialized work apps or creating your own. Podio has a wide range of project management and collaboration apps and app packs. Price: Free up to 5 users. Podio Teams plan is $5 per user/month.

Teambox

Teambox is a single place for shared tasks, discussions and files. Easily organize teams and projects. Instantly see progress and milestones with a workload view, milestone calendar and streamlined charting. Share, find and work on current documents. Integrates with Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive. Use HD Video conferencing, screen sharing, and group chat to communicate with your team in real time. Price: Free up to 5 users. Pro plan is $5 per user/month.

Trello

Trello is a free collaborative task and project manager. Use cards to jot down information. Put your cards in lists to track progress or to categorize. Add information, due dates, checklists, attachments, comments, and more. Changes made by others appear instantaneously on your screen. Assign cards to board members, and everyone will be able to see what everyone else is working on. Mobile apps are available. Price: Free.

Flow

Flow is a task management tool with real-time collaboration features. Manage your project’s files, deadlines, tasks and discussion in one centralized place. Keep track of your entire team’s progress as new tasks are created and discussed in real-time. Mobile app is available for iOS. Price: $9.99 per month.

Conceptboard

Conceptboard provides centralized whiteboards for teams to collaborate on visual ideas. With the live location option, you directly know where all participants members are located on the board and what screen part they currently see. Conceptboard works with Word, Excel, PDF files, Photoshop, and more. Integrates with Google Drive. Enhance collaboration with chat, live video and voice for all participants. Price: Plans start at $9/month.

Basecamp

Basecamp keeps all your projects, data and people in one place. See each project on its own page with discussions, to-do lists and files. You have full control over who sees which project, and who sees each other. See everyone’s schedule on one calendar. Integrates with a wide range of third party apps for mobile, accounting, reporting, syncing, software development, and more. Price: Plans starts at $20/month for up to 10 projects at once.

BinFire

BinFire is a project management and collaboration application. Its features include a project dashboard, calendar, interactive whiteboard, task management, activity streams, and project reports. Assign permissions to each member of the project as to what they can do or see in the project. Employ group chat, document sharing and collaboration, and real-time notification. Price: Plans start $9.95/month.

Projecturf

Projecturf helps you manage projects, people and tasks. Stay plugged-in at all times with real-time notifications, activity feeds and instant email notifications. Commenting is inline and instantaneous. View tasks, tickets and conversations. The sidebar holds all the important details such as assignees, notes and attachments. Integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive. Price: Plans start at $20/month.

Wiggio

Wiggio is a free, online toolkit that makes it easy to work in groups. Create to-do lists and assign tasks. Manage events with a shared calendar, and poll you group in real-time. Upload and manage files in a shared folder. Send email, test and voice messages. Host virtual meetings and conference calls. Price: Free.

Google Apps

Google Apps is a online productivity suite that offers an inexpensive and full-featured resource to collaborate on a project. Build project sites without code, or choose from hundreds of project templates. Create documents and store them on Drive. Schedule the project, attach time-sensitive files and get reminders with the calendar app. Hangouts offers a fun and easy video-conferencing solution. Price: $5/month per user.